Majority not trusting U.S. to keep ACA data secure

Nov. 12, 2013

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Twice during Affordable Care Act discussions in Salinas during the past two months, it was mentioned that when an insurance subscriber signs up for Obamacare, his or her personal information will be shared with other government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.

That is not sitting well the majority of Americans, a new poll released Monday shows. In the wake of disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowdon showing U.S. security agencies, including the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, have conducted a dragnet of data collection from complicit communications companies such as AT&T without court authorization, 53 percent of Americans surveyed do not trust the government to keep the information private and not used inappropriately.

In California, the Covered California insurance exchange collects information such as social security number, date of birth, address, income and whether you have any physical, mental or emotional health conditions limiting activities in daily life. That information is then passed on the Homeland Security as well as other federal agencies such as the Social Security Administration, according to George Chobany, a certified financial planner who spoke at a health-care forum last week sponsored by The Salinas Californian.

Even David Panush, director of external affairs for Covered California, acknowledged in late September while speaking in Salinas that personal information will be shared with Homeland Security.

“I think it’s OK for me to say that,” Panush quipped to the audience on Sept. 27 during a briefing for Monterey County workers who are assisting local residents with signing up for the ACA.

Kev Coleman, head of research and data for HealthPocket, the Sunnyvale company that conducted the survey, described the results as showing a “high level of public skepticism regarding the privacy and data security safeguards.

“To address these public concerns and attract consumers to the exchanges, the government must communicate a compelling case that the security and privacy measures associated with the exchanges will be successful,” he said.

In addition to the mistrust of U.S. security agencies, another 57 percent are not confidant that the government can protect their personal data from hackers – and the survey was conducted prior to the technological problems with the healthcare.gov website that began late last month.

The survey was conducted Sept. 16-19 and scientifically sampled 1,902 respondents. The methodology was designed to approximate national statistics on age, gender and region. The technology was provided by Google.

D.L. Taylor writes about health care for The Salinas Californian. Follow him on Twitter @taylor_salnews.